Turkey Cook Off Thread

[Idahawk]

Post pics and information here , thanks for playing


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[Scott Zee]

I'll start things off. Getting the bird and brine together this morning. Turkey in brine about noon today.
Picked up an Organic turkey this year, couldn't pass up the price. ended up being $1.85/lb





Fantastic brine that I would highly recommend. Picked this up after the holidays last yr, clearance




Bath is ready a little early, 


Doing the breaststroke


I used a spanek vertical roaster and a 9 x 9 pan to catch drippings.


Standing tall in R2D2


About 2 hours later breast is at 165 and ready to rest


Sliced and ready to serve, super moist and tasty. Yea, I got both the oysters 





thanks for stopping and I hope you and yours had a Great Thanksgiving             

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Here is what I was hoping to be my throw down entry but as good as it looks, the thighs didn't completely cook and with honesty being the best policy and all I will admit it wasn't a total success and therefore not using this one as my official entry.  It sure looked good though! 

Here is the thread descibing the cook and what I did wrong




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[MikeRocksTheRed]

And here is my official entry.  It's only a breast because I needed to cook white meat as back up for someone else's main turkey and to ensure there is enough to have turkey sandwiches for a few days.

6lb turkey breast. 
No brine
Coated in EVOO
Rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, then I hit it with a good coating of Tatonka Dust.

Grilled indirect around 350-360 with cherry and apple wood. 

Pulled at:
Left breast 165
Right breast 170

Skin is nice and crispy and has great flavor from the seasonings.  Meat has a nice smoke but not too strong.  It was very juicy despite not brining.













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[Stu Clary]

Those slices look fantastic!

[JDLones]

Okay, here's my Turkey Cook Off entry. I acquired a 13.5 lb turkey, which had been enhanced prior to freezing. I ended up dry brining for a bit with kosher salt and then wet rubbing with Simon & Garfunkel rub and olive oil. After I got the rub in it I put it in the fridge overnight.



This morning I lit a chimney of KBB and divided it between two charcoal baskets positioned at about 8 and 4. I let it come up to about 350 and put the bird on with a couple of small chunks of applewood.



After about an hour I pulled of the foil I had wrapped around the wings and drumsticks.



It only took a couple of hours to get the breast up to 165. I pulled the turkey off and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes.



I was happy with the nice color and it smelled fantastic. I got it carved (I need more practice at that particular skill) and ready to eat. The meat was very moist and tender. I'm quite happy with the results. I had to taste a bit for quality control, of course. Quite tasty if I do say so myself.



Thanks for looking, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!


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[firedude5015]

Ok heres goes....7 pound Turkey Breast, to go with the 14 pound fried turkey  (30 year family tradition). Injected it with this....

Rubbed it with  this...


Put it on this, at 350 degrees with a little cherry wood


Had a couple of these while cooking...


Ended up like this...




Served alongside this. ..


Can't  decide which is better, but rotisserie Turkey dissappeared as quick as the fried turkey.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING WKC !!!

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[LightningBoldtz]

My submission

The setup


Using rails for this cook - Kingsford to start and lump to keep 'er  going, no smoke for this cook




Inside had herbs with butter and I used @MrHoss Rosemary Sea Salt on the outside, injected butter and garlic butter a few days ago

[brawndo]

I'll play.  I did a simple brine of water, salt, brown sugar,  Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper.  Let the 14 lb bird soak for about 36 hours.

Went out last weekend and found an old roasting pan to keep the "nice" one "nice", whatever that means.

Put about 15 lit coals on top of some unlit KBB and let it go for about 3 hours.




Didn't get any complaints!


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[Harleysmoker]

13.5 lb bird brined over night in this http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1087814&postcount=1 The next day removed from brine and air dried in the refrigerator over night. Thursday rubbed with Olive Oil and Ployboys BBQ Bovine Bold. Smoked on the 22" WSM with Kingsford and 4 chunks of Cherry. Smoker temp was 300*- 315 for most of the cook but climbed up to 325*for about the last hour. Pulled when my Maverick ET-733 read 165* in the breast. I checked it with my Thermo Pop and it read 172* in the breast and 180* in the thigh. I was a little worried it may be a little dry with these temps but it was very juicy. My family and I thought this was the best Turkey I ever made out of the 6 I have made in the past. Will be doing another the same way in a couple weeks.

[Saugust]

Here's my entry! Small crowd this year so we went with a 13lb bird. I decided a while ago to do a Turkey Ballantine after doing a chicken with much success. Here she is deboned, stuffed with mom's famous dressing, and seasoned with simple kosher salt and pepper. I used the rails I picked up the other day to hold KBB.

I ran the kettle in the 375 range, knowing this would be a short cook but hoping to achieve a crispy skin. Sure enough, here she is after a little over an hour.

As the pictures tell I didn't roll it as well as I should have. Needed more overlap. But that doesn't matter! It tasted delicious, looked pretty cool, and most importantly it was enjoyed by the family! Give thanks, grillfellas, we've got it good!


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[iCARRY]

Here is mine, 11 lbs fresh, brined, spatchcocked, injected with creole butter, cherry and apple for smoke.

1 hour in, temps around 325, wanted higher, needed to be done in about 2 hours.

Finished, 2.5 hours, sorry no pics of it cut up. Was running late and people were hungry.



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[brewtownbeatdown]

Here is my entry. Spatchcock style. Novelty bird (figured it was my only chance going against the pros).

Made my own butter for under the skin, as well as brushing on the skin. Melted 12tbsp butter with minced garlic, ground sage, ground rosemary, cracked pepper, smoked sea salt, & a touch of avocado oil.  Let it solidify into a paste to ensure it stayed between breast & skin while prepping. Not pretty, but tasty.

Time for childish turkey antics. Chopped the ends off two proportionate lemons. Cored out pulp & stuffed with dry stuffing to maintain shapes. 
Placed lemon ends under skin toward top of breast.

Threw her in the red. Her prim & proper sister in the blue. Bacon-wrapped, spiral slice ham on the roti in the yellow.

Starting to look sexy.

She's had enough. 165 in the thigh. 155 in the breast. A little dark to show detail properly & lemon chunks shoulda been a little bigger.  Oven would've been a better option for this type of cook (immaturity).


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[Stu Clary]

Everyone here like white meat, so I went with two 5 1/2 pound bone-in breasts.  Put together a brine last night.  Here's all the ingredients, + molasses. 


in the brine:

after the picture I covered it in ice and left everything alone overnight.

I pulled them out of the brine this morning, patted dry and rubbed them with Old Bay.  Sorry, forgot to take a picture of that.  I set up for indirect heat and used apricot chips for smoke.  This is after two and a half hours:


I pulled the breasts after just short of four hours on the grill, 160 degrees.  I wrapped in foil for half an hour, then showtime.  Ended up with a super moist bird, full of flavor.  Very happy with how they turned out.

[Jon]

I gotta fess up right from the start- I overcooked the turkey by about ten degrees. So go ahead and point me toward the end of the line.

But it was good anyway! The Power of Rotisserie. I didn't take as many pics as I intended, I was busy socializing (root cause of overcook), and was generally busy. Here is the bird:


The label said 14.6 lbs, fresh turkey.

There are a couple of things I learned from this cook.

First, the turkey came with the plastic doohickey that ties the legs together. I have always left that on the bird - that's what it's for, right? Well, it came off toward the end of the cook. I figure that the hot spit rubbing against it is the cause. So next time I'll cut that sucker off and do it up with butcher's twine. The turkey ended the cook waving his legs at me. It was OK, nothing fell off.

Second, a big-ass turkey throws the lid thermometer way off. I know that little dial is convenient, but with a turkey right under it, it was off by 50 - 75 degrees.

Third...yeah, I know I said a couple of things, but...Hey! Beer Dog!



Actually, there is a third thing I learned. Cooking a big meal on multiple kettles is a hell of a lot easier than using a standard home kitchen with limited ovens and burners. I did a lot of prep work, but I ended up using three kettles and it made it easy. The red Performer rotisseried the turkey, the brownie was used to cook things through, and the 26 was equipped with a Vortex full of KBB to brown things up. Set a casserole next to a full Vortex and the top browns right up. I made turkey, green bean casserole, dressing, sprouts, and ABTs, and it was all stress free.

I didn't make the gravy on the grill, but I used the carcasses of the three chickens that I have roti'd over the last couple weeks to make the stock that made the gravy.

Here is a plate. I actually forgot to take a "real plate" pic, so I went back after eating and made a plate with just the things cooked on kettles.



My daughter is the one that outdid herself, she is the one who readied and decorated our house for Thanksgiving. Here is is one of the place cards at the table, and yes I know the rotation is off:



And our chalkboard: